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wp.org search vs our merit ranking: “change notification”

wp.org orders by popularity, so a plugin a host bundled onto millions of sites, or a big-brand one that's slow and mediocre, can sit at the top. Our ranking is built to answer a different question: which of these is actually worth installing. How this works →

For “change notification”, we agree with wp.org on the top plugin, and our order differs from theirs on 9 of the top 20.

wp.org search ranks on

Install count (uncapped), the raw star average, freshness, and support. Popularity dominates, so the biggest install base usually wins regardless of how it got there.

We add

A cap on the install boost, volume-weighted ratings, and signals wp.org can't see: whether the install base is organic or host-pushed, and its risk of being pulled.

Ranked above its merit

Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications shows at wp.org #8 but places #20 on merit, a gap of 12 places. Its 6K+ installs carry it up the search order; its 4.2★ average from 5 reviews, plus freshness and upkeep, place it lower on our volume-weighted scale.

Buried gem

My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) places #10 on merit, 4.9★ from 1199 reviews, but shows at wp.org #20. A smaller install base keeps it further down the default search order than its quality signals alone would.

merit plugin wp.org
1 Manage Notification E-mails 100K+ · 4.8★ (56) wp.org #1 2 Schedule Post Changes With PublishPress Future: Unpublish, Delete, Change Status, Trash, Change Categories 100K+ · 4.5★ (172) wp.org #3 ↓1 1 too low 3 WPFront Notification Bar 40K+ · 4.5★ (131) wp.org #4 ↓1 1 too low 4 Notification – Custom Notifications and Alerts for WordPress 10K+ · 4.6★ (124) wp.org #5 1 too low 5 Simple History – Track, Log, and Audit WordPress Changes 300K+ · 4.9★ (491) wp.org #9 ↓1 4 too low 6 Notification for Telegram 4K+ · 4.9★ (71) wp.org #7 ↓1 1 too low 7 Activity Log – Monitor User and Agent Changes 200K+ · 4.3★ (74) wp.org #6 ↑5 1 too high 8 Wordfence Security – Firewall, Malware Scan, and Login Security 5M+ · 4.7★ (5040) wp.org #15 7 too low 9 Notification Master – Real-Time WordPress Notifications With Email, SMS, Webhooks & More 1K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #2 ↑2 7 too high 10 My Sticky Bar – Floating Notification Bar & Sticky Header (formerly myStickymenu) 100K+ · 4.9★ (1199) wp.org #20 ↓1 10 too low 11 MailPoet – Newsletters, Email Marketing, and Automation 500K+ · 4.4★ (1435) wp.org #18 7 too low 12 Notivo Notification for WooCommerce 5K+ · 4.3★ (80) wp.org #11 ↓1 1 too high 13 Disable Admin Notices – Hide Dashboard Notifications 100K+ · 4.7★ (367) wp.org #21 ↓1 8 too low 14 All In One Login 60K+ · 3.6★ (35) wp.org #12 2 too high 15 Simple Login Notification 2K+ · 5.0★ (9) wp.org #10 ↓1 5 too high 16 HashBar – Announcement, Notification Bar & Popup Campaign 9K+ · 4.2★ (38) wp.org #16 17 Easy Notification Bar 9K+ · 4.6★ (16) wp.org #14 3 too high 18 WP Notification Bell 600+ · 4.9★ (12) wp.org #19 ↓1 1 too low 19 WPC Added To Cart Notification for WooCommerce 3K+ · 4.9★ (9) wp.org #17 2 too high 20 Push Notifications for WP – Self Hosted Web Push Notifications 6K+ · 4.2★ (5) wp.org #8 ↓1 12 too high 21 New Order Notification for WooCommerce 1K+ · 4.4★ (14) wp.org #24 3 too low 22 Admin login URL Change 2K+ · 5.0★ (4) wp.org #13 9 too high 23 Publish Post Email Notification 500+ · 5.0★ (3) wp.org #23 24 WP Comment Notification 400+ · 5.0★ (1) wp.org #22 ↑1 2 too high

Merit ranking caps the install boost at 1M (wp.org leaves it uncapped), replaces the raw star average with a volume-weighted Bayesian score and a Wilson lower bound, and keeps wp.org's own freshness and compatibility decays. Method from the plugin-directory source; see Meta Trac #8298. Positions are tracked daily from the first visit to a keyword, so the small arrows show movement since tracking began.